In recent years, registered persons have been subjected to public scrutiny that has no paralelles in any other industry.

Disgruntled investors are permitted to write complaint letters that are on public view without any judgement on whether the complaint has any validity. A few letters written with malice and containing baseless accusations can put a registered person in the position of being subject to heightened supervision, or, at the extreme, discharged because they are the subject of too many complaints

Arbitration decisions that resulted in a registered person being cleared of all charges used to result in an expungement of the case from the CRD upon an order from the panel. Now a registered person is forced to shoulder additional expense to obtain a court order to force expungement by the Regulatory Agency.

The public has a right to information when they entrust their assets to someone, but things have gone overboard.

With the proposed rule change, details concerning private transactions between private indviduals will now be released for anyone to view. Even in civil court proceedings, documents and depositions are routinely marked as Confidential. Indeed, some are even deemed to be so sensitive concerning trade secrets or financial information they are marked Eyes only. The proposed rule leaves persons appering before the NAC with less protection than would be afforded in a civil courtroom.

I believe move toward public disclosure in our industry has crossed the line where my personal rights to privacy are being diminshed.